Air-India mulls legal action against 12 pilots

BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT

23 August 2005: India’s flagship carrier Air-India is planning of taking legal action against 12 pilots, who had joined a rival private airliner. The pilots, who were working with its low-cost carrier Air-India Express, had joined competitor, even though the carrier had not accepted their resignations.

“We had not accepted the resignations and the same was infored to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)," Air-India spokesperson S Venkat said.

The airline is waiting for DGCA’s communication on the issue and was also weighing the option of initiating legal action against pilots concerned.

The pilots had tendered their resignations nearly two months ago to join a private carrier, despite an informal pact among various airlines to not to poach each others' staff. The carrier intends to recover the cost of training from these pilots.

Air-India Express was facing shortage of pilots and had to cancel a number of flights to West Asia from Mumbai and Delhi, he said. Air India was also planning to recruit foreign pilots to resume flights.

Passengers to Gulf were accommodated on Air-India A-310 aircraft, which have been deployed as only two of the three planes are in operation due to the shortage of cockpit crew.